Girl With A Pearl Earring: Summary and book reviews of Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, plus links to an excerpt from Girl With A Pearl Earring and a biography of Tracy Chevalier.

In seventeenth-century Delft, there's a strict social order--rich and poor, Catholic and Protestant, master and servant--and all know their place. When Griet becomes a maid in the household of the painter Johannes Vermeer, she thinks she knows her role: housework, laundry, and the care of his six children. She even feels able to handle his shrewd mother-in-law; his restless, sensual wife; and their jealous servant. What no one expects is that Griet's quiet manner, quick perceptions, and fascination with her master's paintings will draw her inexorably into his world. Their growing intimacy sparks whispers; and when Vermeer paints her wearing his wife's pearl earrings, the gossip escalates into a full-blown scandal that irrevocably changes Griet's life. Written with the precision and focus of an Old Master painting, Girl With a Pearl Earring is a vivid portrait of colorful seventeenth-century Delft, as well as the hauntingly poignant story of one young girl's rite of passage.

Media Reviews

San Francisco Chronicle The elegant prose evokes contemplation, the pace is slow and cumulative, the drama emotional..   USA Today Writer Tracy Chevalier has created an outstanding novel...Chevalier's imagination adds life to an already brilliant painting in this elegantly developed and beautifully written novel.   The Cleveland Plain Dealer - Nancy Connors Girl With a Pearl Earring...is the richest, most rewarding novel of 1999...Chevalier has spun a fascinating tale...   Time A portrait of radiance...Tracy Chevalier brings the real artist Vermeer and a fictional muse to life in a jewel of a novel.   Publishers Weekly Marvelously textured...completely absorbing.   Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Novelist Tracy Chevalier has so vividly imagined the life of the painter and his subject that you say to yourself Yes, this is the way it must have been.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated of 5 by debbie franchise
fgirl with a pearl earring
I read this book because of my English class and at first I thought I would hate it, but I fell in love. it is one of my favorites. you don't have to love painting to enjoy this book. It is interesting reading it while you look at the paintings...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Rachel
Captivating...
This book really takes you into their world... a very thrilling and experience. After the first page, I just couldn't put it down. I enjoyed reading this book and so will you!

Rated of 5 by mimi
Girl with a Pearl Earring
I thought that this book was good but it has a little to much detail. The ending was pretty upsetting but the message was good. I wish I could have found chapter summaries for this book so that I wouldn't have to go through all the unecessary detail.   Read More

Rated of 5 by Meredith
Despite what some say about loving the book and then being disappointed by the ending, I disagree. You have to look at the whole book and when you do you realise that what Griet did was right for her at that time. Anything else would have been a...   Read More

Rated of 5 by Amanda
This is a beautifully written novel. When you read it you feel as if you are looking through Griets eyes.

Rated of 5 by S.B
an astounding and captivating novel about Vermeer's art and 17th century life in Delft

...49 More Reader Reviews

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Books with similar themes

• Historical Fiction
  
• Europe 
  
• The Low Countries 
  
• 17th Century or Earlier 
  
• 1st Books/1st Novels 
  
• Coming of Age